


Telling

by Johnstonmara353



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:08:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24194890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Johnstonmara353/pseuds/Johnstonmara353
Summary: Andrea asks Maggie what the Governor did to her. That single question unravels more secrets.
Kudos: 3





	Telling

Telling

Andrea/Maggie Greene

Summary: Andrea asks Maggie what the Governor did to her. That single question unravels more secrets. 

Andrea hadn’t known that Maggie and Glenn had ever been in Woodbury. She never saw them. Never heard anyone speak their names. Phillip had never said a word to her, neither had Merle. She didn’t know they had been tortured both physically and psychologically by a man that was supposed to be a friend and the man that she was sharing her body with. She hadn’t known. If she had known, she would have fought like hell to get them out. She would have killed him without a second thought to protect them. She never got that chance. Instead, she got herself thrown inside his playroom. 

When the Governor was finally dead and the residents of Woodbury finally safe inside the prison walls, Andrea went to find Maggie. She wanted to know the truth about what those men did to her. Glenn had been the one to tell her that they had been held by the Governor for days. He told her everything they put him through. She could still see the scars from his beating. But he also told her that Maggie wouldn’t talk about her time alone with the Governor or Merle. Hadn’t said a word about what happened in that room. She hadn’t offered any explanation as to why her shirt was off. She said nothing to anyone. 

Andrea had to know what happened to the younger woman. She hadn’t known Merle that long before he went missing. And she hadn’t spent much time getting to know him when she was in Woodbury. But she knew the Governor. She knew a part of him anyway. She had seen his controlling side in the bedroom. Had experienced her fair share of bites and bruises and cuts to last a life time. He had loved to make her scream whether in pleasure or pain. Sometimes she couldn’t even tell the difference. She had never had a partner that was that dominant in bed. Phillip enjoyed pinning her down. Enjoyed the look of panic as he would hold her arms over her head and force himself on her. But she never complained. She saw what happened to people that spoke against him. And on those rare occasions, he could be the kindest man she had ever met. It all depended on his mood. She remembered the night she had returned from her visit at the prison. The same visit that Carol tried to convince her to kill him. That night he had grabbed her the second she entered the door. Pushing her into the solid wood, hard. Forcing her legs apart. She had those bruises to prove it. Only now they were covered by the ones she received during her time in his torture chamber. She regrets not taking her chance to kill him when she had it. She could have slit his throat. Could have ended everyone’s pain in an instant. If it happened again, she wouldn’t hesitate. Well, that’s what she told herself anyway. 

Andrea found Maggie in the prison garden, watching over Judith as she tended to their growing crops. She saw her glance in her direction, but turned her back as Andrea smiled. She had been like that since Andrea had come back for the final time. The younger woman wouldn’t stay in a room with her alone. Getting up and leaving if Andrea were to walk in a room she was in. Avoiding working guard duty with her. She wouldn’t make eye contact for more than a few seconds. It wasn’t like the Maggie Greene she remembered. They had never been close. After the incident with Beth at the farm, Maggie had made it clear that she didn’t want to be friends. Didn’t want her anywhere near Beth and didn’t want her anywhere near her home. But they weren’t on the Greene farm anymore. Beth was doing just fine helping Carol with laundry, and Andrea was concerned. She was gonna break the rule. She couldn’t stay away from the young woman any longer. Not when she feared the woman was hurting in silence. 

“Babysitting duty?” She asked, shielding her eyes from the hot Georgia sun. Glancing down at the smiling baby, before focusing back on the brunette. Watching the young woman startle slightly. Obviously thinking that turning her back would force Andrea to continue avoiding her. 

Maggie recovered quickly. Picking large tomatoes from the vines and placing them in the basket. She had known Andrea was walking towards her. She thought she could get her to leave her alone. She was the last person Maggie wanted to talk to. The last person she would ever take advice from. She was still angry over the incident with Beth back on the farm. She really did believe that Andrea had no right saying anything to encourage her baby sister to kill herself. “I thought I’d give Beth a break and Judith could use the fresh air,” she said with a slight smile. The baby grinned at the sound of her name. Making a grab for Andrea’s boot laces. 

Andrea nodded. She wanted to be alone. Maggie’s entire body language was screaming at her to back off. She wasn’t in the mood for whatever anyone needed at the moment. But the blonde couldn’t walk away. Couldn't leave her to suffer alone. “Would you like some help?” she asked, offering the brunette a wide smile. She couldn’t have cared less about picking crops but if it got Maggie to talk to her then she would do it. 

Maggie shook her head, watching Judith play on the blanket, avoiding Andrea’s eyes. Judith pulling herself across the blanket made the younger woman smile. However, it faded quickly. “No, thank you. There’s not a lot of alone time out here.” It was true. You didn’t get a lot of alone time when you were living in a prison. It didn’t matter that the guards and inmates were long gone. It was still a prison full of people. Someone was always around a corner. Someone was always in ear shot of you when you were walking the grounds. 

Andrea stepped closer. Stepping over the toys that were scattered across the blanket. Glancing at Judith once more before turning her attention back to the woman that still refused to even glance at her. She wanted to reach out to the younger woman, but as her hand hovered over Maggie’s shoulder, she pulled it back. She had already startled her once. And if Maggie made a scene because she grabbed her, if would bring attention neither of them wanted. “What happened at Woodbury?” she whispered, shoving her hands in her pockets. Watching Maggie flinch at the question, it made Andrea’s heart ache. No one should be that afraid. No one should feel that terrified talking about an event in their lives. And yet here Maggie was, trying to pick tomatoes with shaking hands. 

Maggie shook her head. Tossing the tomatoes into the basket a little more roughly. She knew she was gonna need to have a talk with Glenn later. “I keep telling Glenn and I’ll keep telling you. Nothing happened.” It was a robotic response. A response she had perfected over the last month. Andrea knew that response all too well. It was the leave me alone, I don’t wanna talk about it anymore response. She had a happened of using it herself lately. 

Andrea nodded. If Maggie wouldn’t talk about their time in Woodbury, she would. She would tell the younger woman the truth. But she would also defend herself when she need to. “I didn’t know you were there, Maggie.” It was the truth. No one ever gave her a clue that more people were in the compound. And she had to live with the fact that while Phillip was torturing Maggie and Glenn, she was waiting for him to come home. Milton and Merle right at his side when he would walk through the door. He always had that same charming school boy smile. She never asked any questions. She always wondered what he was doing, but she never once asked him. And when she finally did it was too late. She had waited too late. 

A few tears fell down the young woman’s face. Thinking about the things the Governor had said to her. The things he said he wanted to do to her. The feeling of his breath on her face. She had to relive it all in those moments. He taunted her with the fact that Andrea was there. That her previous group member was on his side. And that she would never know they were even there. She had already mourned them for leaving her behind. Deep in her heart, Maggie knew the things he was saying weren’t true, but a part of her brain thought he was right. They had left her behind. They did believe she had been taken down by walkers. And they hadn’t seen her since. In that moment, Maggie knew the words that Andrea spoke were the truth. As she glanced up from her basket she saw the honesty in the other woman’s eyes. “I know you didn’t,” she whispered, almost dropping the basket as her hands began to shake. 

Andrea took the basket from Maggie’s hands, placing it on the ground. Watching as Judith began to pull herself towards the new toy that had been sat down in her space before turning her attention back to the brunette. One arm crossed over her abdomen, the other crossed over her chest. She was protecting herself. Now that she didn’t have the basket, nothing stood between her and the woman asking questions. “How did you know that?” Andrea asked, softly. Glenn had never mentioned knowing she was there. She assumed no one but Michonne knew she was in the Governor’s camp. But why wouldn’t Merle use the fact that she was with them somewhere. It would certainly mess with Glenn’s head. She had spent most of her time at the beginning of the apocalypse with Glenn and Dale. Merle knew for a fact that he could use that against Glenn. So why didn’t he say anything? Did Merle really not use her to play with him? 

Maggie brushed the tears away. She had learned a long time ago that tears didn’t solve anything. She cried for weeks after her mother got sick. Watched her take her last breath. Watched her father place her in the barn with the rest of their neighbors. Tears didn’t save her mother or brother. And she had promised herself she wouldn’t cry again. She would use the pain to fight back. Use all those negative thoughts to keep her moving. Protect the people she was thankful to have left. Maggie finally dared to meet the other woman’s eyes for the first time in months. She didn’t know what she expected to see in Andrea’s face, but compassion wasn’t something she had expected to see. Understanding was another emotion she hadn’t expected in the blondes eyes. Maybe that’s what made Maggie start to talk. Or maybe it was to finally tell someone what happened. “He told me you were there. Merle told him that I knew you. He used it to taunt me,” she whispered. 

Andrea brushed a soothing hand down Maggie’s arm. She didn’t remember mentioning Maggie to Merle or the Governor. But they all knew that she knew Glenn. Had been with Glenn and Dale longer than she had been with anyone else after the world ended. “Did anyone hurt you?” It was an easy questions. But the answers ran so deep she didn’t know if she would be able to get them out of the younger woman. 

Maggie shook her head. She hadn’t been physically hurt; not really. “Merle was just an ass. The Governor...” she paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts before she spilled everything that was running through her mind. “The Governor said that he would kill you and us if we didn’t tell him where the prison was.” Even that hadn’t pushed Maggie enough to tell them where the prison was. She figured even if they killed them, they still wouldn’t know where the prison was. They still wouldn’t have the information that they were torturing them for. 

Andrea knew there was more. There was always more when it came to Phillip. She didn’t know Merle as well as everyone assumed she did. She knew him from the Quarry. Knew him as Daryl’s racist brother. But never got to know him on a personal level. However, after the incident with T-Dog on the roof in Atlanta, she wouldn’t be surprised what he could do when provoked. “Tell me what happened,” she said, quietly. 

Maggie sat down next to the blanket where Judith was playing. Andrea sitting next to her, a silent support system. She felt herself going back to that one moment. The one moment that made her afraid for her life. Afraid that he would take something from her that she couldn’t get back. “He forced me to undress. He said if I didn’t he would kill Glenn.” For the second time, Maggie locked eyes with Andrea. All the emotions that she had been holding in for the past few months finally spilling out. “I couldn’t let him hurt anyone else. He said he would do so many terrible things. I couldn’t let it happen.” Maggie took a shaky breath. “He bent me over the table...I...I could feel him behind me...”

Andrea rubbed Maggie’s back. Her heart ached for the younger woman. No one deserved to go through what Maggie did. She had already lost so much. Had already witnessed so much. “Did he touch you?”

Maggie shook her head violently. Luckily for her, the Governor wasn’t that interested in her. He just wanted to know where their group was. How many were in their group. He wanted information, but she wasn’t naive enough to think he wouldn’t use whatever means necessary to get that information. “I swear he didn’t touch me. He said...” Maggie remembered the words that were whispered in her ear as the he had her pinned to the table. The smell of the alcohol on his breath. 

Andrea prodded a little more. “What did he say?” She knew better than anyone how foul Phillip could be. She had witnessed his anger and frustration first hand. She had seen the psychopath within him, but it wasn’t until it was too late for her. She was already in too deep and didn’t know how to get out. She wouldn’t have gotten out alive if Daryl hadn’t carried her out. 

Maggie shivered. The words permanently engraved in her brain. She swallowed hard, digesting the words before they left her lips. “He said if I didn’t tell him where we were hiding, he would do to you what he really wanted to do to me.” It was the choice she was given. She could tell him where the prison was and risk the group that had protected her. Or she could continue to remain silent and risk someone she had once known being subjected to an unknown fate. But that still didn’t break her. Bringing Glenn into the room and threatening his life was what ended their torment. She had made the decision to risk their lives and the life of someone that didn’t even know they were there. And that was a choice she had to live with. She was only happy that it didn’t end the way he had wanted it to. 

Andrea knew what Maggie was referring to without having her say the words. Phillip hadn’t been a gentle man when it came to the little sex they had. He had left bruises on her skin. Bite marks on her thighs and breasts. At the time, it didn’t bother her that he was a little rough. But as the months went on, he took all his frustration out on her in bed. She hugged Maggie closer. “Everything is fine. He just wanted to scare you.” Andrea had been hoping and praying that Maggie hadn’t gone through what she had feared. Hoped that Phillip hadn’t touched her in such a violent way. 

Maggie shook her off. Frustration currently coursing through her entire body. How many times had Daryl complained to her that Andrea refused to talk about anything she remembered from her final day with the Governor. She had refused to talk to anyone about the cuts on her wrists and the bruises on her body. And eventually, everyone stopped asking. That infuriated the younger woman. Andrea had expected her to answer every single one of her questions, but she wouldn’t talk about the most traumatic time in her life. “And what did he do to you? What did he put you through the entire time you were with him?” She asked, raising her voice for a moment. Not caring if it caused unwanted attention. 

Andrea shook her head. Crossing her arms over her chest. A few former Woodbury occupants glanced in their direction, but the stern look Andrea gave in return forced them back to what they were doing. She had gained some authority while in Woodbury. The occupants trusted her and listened to her. Something Rick was appreciative of when she finally awoke from her ordeal. She helped him maintain order. They were used to following what she thought was best. Only now, she ran it with Rick. Her problems didn’t matter anymore. The problems of the group did. Andrea shrugged her shoulders as she noticed Maggie still waiting for her answer. “Like I said, he didn’t do anything to me.”

Maggie looked at her in disgust. It was the same answer she had heard a thousand times over. “How do you expect me to tell you anything when you won’t talk about anything yourself. Daryl told me about the room he found you in. How you were chained up and unconscious when he found you in that room. You were bloody. Your clothes were ripped. You had bruises and bite marks. Milton had managed to kill himself so I know he never touched you.”

Andrea held up her hand. Stopping the ranting. She didn’t want to hear about the things she didn’t remember. She also didn’t want to attract any attention. She swallowed hard. She looked at the younger woman before glancing off at the field. Memories beginning to pop into her head. “I was right there when he got me,” she said, pointing to the clear spot in the line of trees. “I could see Rick in the watch tower. I even waved,” she said with a tear filled smile. Remembering that final moment of happiness. The moment where she could breath again. Her family was only down a hill. “I was so happy to finally be home.” She tears falling down her face. She didn’t look at Maggie, just continued to watch the clearing expecting to see him. Fear and anger gripping her. “He grabbed me from that spot. Knocked me unconscious. That’s how I got the cut on my head.”

Andrea paused for a moment, glancing at baby Judith who was currently chewing on her blanket, oblivious to the conversation that was taking place. She felt Maggie’s hand cover her own. A moment of comfort. She inhaled sharply. Remembering the events of her last encounter with the Governor. She focused back on the clearing in the trees before she continued. “He raped me while I was unconscious. I suppose I was lucky not to be aware of it happening. That must have been where the bite marks came from because I can’t remember them.” She felt Judith pull on the side of her sweat pants. Begging for some attention. Without glancing down, Andrea stroked the baby’s back. Maggie could see her eyes had glazed over. She was back in that room. Seeing it all again. Not that the images ever left her. Every time she closed her eyes she saw his face. Phillip had never said anything about what he did to her while she was unconscious. She knew because when she woke up handcuffed to that chair, her underwear was missing. “When I woke up, I was chained to that damn chair. He would check on me every now and then, but he never touched me after that. He would taunt me. Telling me everyone at the prison didn’t want me. That Rick wouldn’t come look for me. The last time I remember seeing him was when he pushed Milton in the room to kill me.” She rubbed her wrists, the scars still fresh. “I caused most of the damage trying to get out of those damn handcuffs.”

Maggie stroked the woman’s hand. Suspecting something and knowing were too very different things and Maggie was beginning to understand that. She had assumed Andrea had gone through hell while with the Governor. There were still things she probably would never know that happened to her while in Woodbury. She shouldn’t have pushed the woman to talk about it. She had clearly wanted to pretend nothing happened. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”

Andrea shook her head, quickly wiping the tears away. It was only a memory now. He couldn’t hurt her anymore. There was no reason to be afraid anymore. It was time to tell someone. At least tell a little of what her life was like after Michonne left. It wasn’t the fairy tale that everyone had assumed. And Maggie was starting to see that for herself. “You deserved to know,” Andrea whispered. She pulled Judith against her chest. Savoring the smell of her baby soft hair. Feeling her wrap her small fingers around her blonde curls. Judith happy to be the center of someone’s attention, giggled and babbled away. She kissed the baby’s cheek before glancing back at Maggie. “Our job is to make this life easier for her. To protect her. If I can prevent what happened to me, happening to someone else, I’m okay with that.”

Andrea could see Daryl watching her from his post by the fence. His bow slung over his right shoulder. His bare arms glistening from sweat. That shy smile that made her melt plastered across his face. He hadn’t let her out of his sight since he found her. She remembered he was the first person she spoke to when she woke up. The first person to tell her she was finally home. He was always at her side at a moments notice that first month. He was also the one that comforted her when she awoke in the night from a nightmare. Sometimes crying out. He was always there. Fixing the pain that she had brought upon herself. 

Maggie didn’t have to look to see what the other woman was looking at. It was the same man that paced back and forth outside her cell until she was awake. The man that annoyed the piss out of everyone wondering when she would wake up. Pestering Hershel as to what was wrong with her. The same man that refused to leave her cell until she could tell him to leave. She watched Andrea blush. Maggie had watched them flirt off and on through her time with the group. She remembered the day they had lost Andrea in the herd at the farm. He wanted to go back. Begged them to go back. Rick had said no. She watched his heart break as each day passed not knowing whether Andrea was dead or alive. “He loves you, ya know.” she said with a smile. 

Andrea laid Judith back on the blanket, giving her the notebook she had been carrying around for her to play with. She blushed as she remembered the first hour after she awoke. He had told her repeatedly how much he had missed her. How much he wished he had gone back for her. Telling her how sorry he was. She remembered the tears on his cheek as that beautiful man told her he had mourned her. Had mourned her loss from his soul. “He told me when I woke up,” she whispered with a slight smile. Not wanting to hide anything anymore, but also not wanting to embarrass Daryl. 

Maggie rolled a tomato in Judith’s direction, listening to her giggle. Enjoying the brief moment of happiness. The girl talk. Something they had never shared before that moment. She had never tried to relate to the other woman after that day on the farm. But now, she took joy in seeing her happy. “And?”

Andrea was ashamed. She was ashamed for letting a man take advantage of her. Ashamed of betraying Daryl in those months she didn’t know he was alive. And fear that he wouldn’t love her if he knew the truth. She hadn’t told him about her relationship with Phillip. The only information he knew was from Michonne and she didn’t know much. She didn’t want anyone to know for a god given fact that she had voluntarily slept with a monster. “Daryl doesn’t know,” she whispered. Her head down. She couldn’t even look at him across the yard while talking about it. 

Maggie shrugged. Everyone knew she had been in a relationship with the Governor. If they hadn’t known when she came for a visit, they knew as soon as the other Woodbury residents arrived. “That man knows more than you give him credit for. He knows you had sex with the Governor. But it doesn’t matter. You thought he wasn’t coming back. You found what you believed to be a nice guy that you were attracted to. You found a normal world in this chaos. No one will fault you for that.”

Andrea wiped the tears away with the back of her hand. Maggie may not blame her for what she had done, but they were still plenty of people in their group that didn’t trust her. People that still blamed her for standing by the Governor. “Michonne sure as hell holds me accountable for everything that happened. I turned my back on the group. I chose to stay with a man that was evil. I chose to care for someone that had no soul.” But the fact of the matter was, at the time Michonne left her in Woodbury, she hadn’t told her anything. Hadn’t explained the uneasy feeling she was getting while inside those walls. She had just left her. 

Maggie grabbed her hand. Forcing the woman to look at her. Wanting her to feel the words and not just hear them. “And Daryl doesn’t give a shit about any of that. You didn’t turn your back on this group. And you sure as hell didn’t lose that man over there.”

Andrea watched Daryl by the fence. Every few seconds his glance went back to her. She smiled as she caught his eyes. She could see him blush and turn away. She wanted him to know everything. Everything she had ever experienced throughout her life. Every good and bad thing that had every happened to her. She wanted him to know it all. “I’ll tell him tomorrow.”


End file.
